DNA microarray tests that reveal patterns of gene activity show potential
for better understanding human responses to injury and infection, according
to new research findings published online in Nature on
August 31 (Calvano et al. Available at: http://www.nature.com).

The study authors, a muti-institutional research team from the National
Institute of General Medical Sciences’ Inflammation and Host Response
to Injury program, are investigating how the systemic inflammation that can
occur in patients with injury or infection alters the expression of genes
within white blood cells. Such gene expression patterns could help reveal
underlying regulatory mechanisms of the inflammatory response, suggest therapeutic
interventions, and (because patients respond differently to therapies) may
allow physicians to tailor therapies specifically for individual patients.